Israel Antiquities Authority /

/ A Bread Stamp from orbat Ma'on

Author(s): Leah Di Segni and
Source:
'Atiqot /

78 / 2014), pp. 31-36 ("
Published by: Israel Antiquities Authority /
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'Atiqot 78, 2014

A Bread Stamp from Horb at Ma'on

Leah Di Segni1

A pottery bread stamp was discovered in an a V-shaped ypsilon and an alpha open on top,
installation (L296; Basket 1466/1) in Area A2,forms that are typical of the fifth-seventh
centuries CE (Thompson 1912:193-194,
Stratum IV, dated to the end of the Byzantine
period, at Horbat Ma'on (see Nahshoni and Tables 3-4). The second mark after the cross
Seriy, this volume). The stamp (Fig. 1) is made
is an interesting ligature that joins three letters,
of well-fired brownish clay with small and
inverting the order of the first two: sigma,
medium black-and-white grits. It has a disk
ypsilon and tau instead of ypsilon, sigma and
shaped base (diam. 8.5 cm, c. 1 cm thick) and tau.
a The inscription reads:
round knob handle (c. 2.5 cm high). The handle
+ECVTE4>AN
top (diam. c. 5.5 cm) is decorated with a cross
and two rows of dots set between its arms. The Eu(Xoyia) CT6(j)dr'(ou).
base of the stamp bears an incised decoration
of letters and symbols. At its center is a large Translation:

dot surrounded by six smaller dots. A narrow Blessing of (Saint?) Stephen.

band skirting the edge of the disk encloses
an inscription, which in turn runs around the
central pattern.
The cross-and-dots design on the handle is
a common device, possibly representing the
sparkles of supernatural light surrounding the
cross. Although less frequent than the usual
pattern of four dots, one between each of the
arms of the cross, this configuration, with a
second, outer circle of dots, is not unknown
(e.g., Israeli and Mevorah 2000:96-97, 126).
Discussion
The shape of the object indicates that it was a
stamp specifically manufactured for marking
bread buns. By pressing the stamp on an
unbaked loaf, the pattern was impressed in
relief on the soft dough and remained visible
on the baked crust. The inscription indicates
that the stamp was used for preparing buns that
were handed out at a church as a memento of

The pattern of dots at the center of the base a visit to that church rather than used in the

may reflect the early Jewish-Christian theology, Eucharist rite.

which viewed Christ as the greatest of the seven Stamps used for the Eucharist bread often
archangels. The dots may represent Christ had a cruciform pattern that facilitated breaking
surrounded by the six companion-archangels the bread. They are either anepigraphic or
believed to be prefigured in Isaiah's (11:1-2) inscribed with abbreviated formulas such as

prophecy about the son of David.2 A W, 'l(r|ao)C X(pLcn6-)C, X(piaTc) N(ik)

(Bagatti 1955-1956:256-257, Fig. 9; Hbner
1990; Feig 1994; Israeli and Mevorah 2000:96,
The Inscription
upper photo). In patristic literature, the term
euXoyta (eulogia), 'blessing', can indicate the
A cross marks the beginning of the inscription.
The inscription characters, about 2 cm high,
Eucharist, if so clarified by the context (e.g.,
are rounded and include some cursive forms: John Chrysostom, Horn, in I Cor. 24:1, PG

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 32 Leah Di Segni

ar 0 2
1 I

Fig. 1. Bread Stamp: (a) handle

61:199-200), was alsothe

or often used to refer to bread or other
Eucharistie
consecration eatables, such as
(e.g., fruit, water and oil,
John that were
Moschu
26, PG 87, iii:2870-2872).3
handed out as alms or as mementos to pilgrims Ho
terms were usually employed
at holy places.5 Monks also used to bestow such
bread 'blessings' to
distributed onto their
thevisitors orfaithful
send them to
for example, gepu;, 'particle', i.e., Host; their acquaintances as a token of Christian love.6
TTpoacfiopd, 'offering'; orKoivwvta, 'communion' The term eulogia could also refer to artifacts
(John Moschus, Leimonarion 29-30, 42, 79, made of imperishable material, such as flasks for
PG 87, iii:2876-2877, 2896, 2936-2937). holy oil or water {ampullae), flask molds, small
More often, the term eulogia was used clay cakes, tokens and lamps. Eulogiae of this
specifically to denote the bread distributed to type could be marked to indicate where, or on
the faithful after the liturgy.4 The term eulogia what occasion, they were offered to the faithful.

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 A Bread Stamp from Horbat Ma'on 33

of the town,
Thus, bread or an ampulla stamped and most
with likely the bishop's seat
a saint's
as well.
name, especially if accompanied by the term
In late
eulogia, would have meant that itantiquity,
was giventhe cult of St. Stephen was
out
at a sanctuary dedicated to that saint
widespread across or on his
the empire, in the west as
well as in the east (Gordini 1968:1382-1385).
feast day, wherever it was celebrated.
Whenever a bread stamp or another
In our region, the artifact
evidence of St. Stephen's cult
of this type bears a pictureis sparse
or an in theinscription
north, and most of the epigraphic
indicating its provenance,
andit always
literary refers
data relates to the central, southern
either to a memorial place andrelated
eastern parts to
of theaprovinces
New of Palaestina
and Arabia.8
Testament tradition, e.g., the Holy Probably
Sepulchre because of the vast
(Grabar 1958), the 'Refuge of St.
popularity Elizabeth'
of the saint in southern Palestine,
at 'En Karem (Di Segni 2003:121-123)
Stephanos seems to haveand
been the commonest
Mount Tabor (Manns 1975), male
or name
to among
a sanctuary
the Christians in this area, or
dedicated to a figure with a in
at least well-attested
the Negev.
cult, such as those of Mary Mother
If our of a God
stamp came from church dedicated to
(Rahmani 1970; LofTreda 1989:123-128), St. Stephen, the inscription could be expected to
Elijah (Loffreda 1989:123), Abraham and have included the attribute yioc, 'saint', which
Daniel (Piccirillo 1994), the apostle Paul (Di usually precedes the names of venerated figures.
Segni 2002), the healers Cosmas and Damianus However, not a few exceptions are known. For
(Loffreda 1989:131-132)7 or St. Menas in instance, in the Madaba map, the tomb of the
Egypt (Lambert and Pedemonte Demeglio patriarch Joseph, on which a church was erected,
1994). Furthermore, to my knowledge, there is is labelled simply t to '100>(<, 'The (shrine)
no evidence in Israel and its vicinity of such of Joseph', and the memorial of the Egyptian
a eulogia bearing the name of a simple monk. martyrs in front of Ascalon is marked [to tw]v
Therefore, the name 'Stephen' in our stamp Aiyu[7T]T1wv, 'The (shrine) of the Egyptians',
inscription most likely referred to a church while all the other sanctuaries dedicated to

dedicated to the Protomartyr.
Indeed, there is evidence that a church
dedicated to St. Stephen did exist at Horbat
Ma'on (Nirim). The site is identified with
Monois or Menois, a small town, a military
base and an episcopal see during the fifth and
sixth centuries CE (Tsalfir, Di Segni and Green
1994:183). The church is attested to by an
inscription on a marble capital discovered in
the fields of Kibbutz Nirim. It reads as follows:
(cross) 'Ay(iou) Crec|>dv'(o10 MwvaeiTtSv, 'Of St.
Stephen of the people of Monois' (Figueras
1996:271-272, No. 7; SEG 46: No. 2027).
As the inscription was engraved on the upper
surface of the capital, it was obviously destined
to remain hidden. This suggests that the capital
was sculptured for a church of St. Stephen at
a workshop located at some distance from the attribute yioc. Thus, it is not surprising that
the site. The words 'of the people of Monois'
indicate that St. Stephen was not a private
(family) church, but rather the parochial church
figures of the Old and New Testament and to
Christian saintsLot, the prophets Elisha,
Zechariah, Micah and Jonah, John the Baptist,
Philip the deacon, the martyr Victor and the
father of Palestinian monasticism, Hilarion
are marked with the formula t to aytou..,
'The (shrine) of saint..'.9 In mosaic inscriptions
in the churches of St. John the Baptist and
Saints Cosmas and Damianus in Gerasa and on
the lintel of a chapel at el-Boberiye in Samaria,
John the Baptist is simply called o ftpdSpopoc,
'The Precursor' (Welles 1938:497, 482, Nos.
306, 314; SEG 8: No. 119). Last but not least,
in a mold for eulogiae of the sanctuaries of
Abraham and Daniel (Piccirillo 1994) and in a
lamp of the Anargyri (Loffreda 1989:131-132),
the names of the saints are not accompanied by
the epithet ayioe was left out on our stamp, as
space was very limited, so much so that even
the word euXoyta was abbreviated.

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 34 Leah Di Segni

Conclusions belonged in it. The excavators have tentatively

interpreted the remains of the building where
Whereas eulogiae tend by their very the
nature
bread stamp was discovered (Area A2) as
a monastery, and identified a church c. 140 m
to be dispersed far from their place of origin,
tothey
the artifacts used to produce them, if the northwest (Area C). In my opinion,
thethe
survive, can be expected to be found near excavated complex included a church of
place of production. Thus, when such artifacts
St. Stephen and possibly the residence of the
are discovered within the ruins of a sacred bishop of Menois.
building, it is reasonable to assume that they

Notes

differentiates
1 Institute of Archaeology, the Hebrew University of between tTpoacjiopd, denoting the
Jerusalem. eucharistic bread, and eukoyla, denoting the bread
2 For this theological concept, see Hermas,handed Visioout in charity.
Pastoris 3:4 [12, 1]; Similitudines pastoris 9:67 The
[83,inscription 'AvapyOpu(v), '[Blessing] of the
1-2]; 9:12 [89, 7-8] (Whittaker 1956:11, 80-81, Silverless',
86); was not recognized by Loffreda as a
Irenaeus, Demonstratio 9 (Ter-Mekerttschian reference
and to Cosmas and Damianus the healers who
Wilson 1919:666). Testa (1983:276-277, 292-293) cured without asking for money. On their cult, see
Meimaris 1986:120-122.
deals with visual representations of this theological
concept. 8 Meimaris (1986:134-136, Nos. 706-718) presents
3 However, in Anthony of Choziba's version of the a collection of epigraphic and papyrological evidence
same story, the loaves for the Eucharist are called for churches dedicated to the saint, or invocations to
TTpoac[>opd even before consecration (Miracula St. Stephen, from Bahan in western Samaria, Be'er
Beatae Virginis in Choziba 5, Houze 1888:366-367). Sheva', Nizzana (Nessana), Rihab in Transjordan,
Cf. also ps. Sophronius: "what is brought to the altar as well as from St. Catherine Monastery and Wadi
is called by many names: blessing, offering, first Haggag in the Sinai. Additional epigraphic evidence
fruit, bread: blessing, as a cancellation of the curse of for churches dedicated to the Protomartyr is found in
the first-created (Adam and Eve)..." (Commentarius Be'er Sheva' (Alt 1921:14, No. 8), at Horbat Be'er
liturgicus 9, PG 87, iii:3989). Shema' (SEG 46: Nos. 2010-2011), at Shivta (SEG
4 According to Galavaris (1970:141), bread stamps 31: No. 1448), at Umm er-Rasas in Transjordan
bearing the inscription EuXoyla Kupiou e<]>' ppa?, (SEG 37: No. 1553) and at Namer in the Hauran
'The blessing of the Lord upon us', served in (Dunand 1950:159, No. 356).
preparing loaves for this use, for the formula echoes More evidence comes from literary sources. In
the dismissal of the Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom. Jerusalem, besides the great basilica and monastery
5 See, for example, Itinerarium Egeriae 3:6; 11:1; of St. Stephen built by Eudocia north of the city and
15:6; 21:3 (Franceschini and Weber 1965:40, 51, 56, dedicated on June 15,460 (Cyril of Scythopolis, Vita
65); Antonini Placentini Itinerarium 27, 46 (Geyer Euthymii 35, Schwartz 1939:54), there were chapels
1965:143, 152); Cyril of Scythopolis, Vita Sabae 39 of the Protomartyr at St. Sion and in the portico of
(Schwartz 1939:130). On 'blessings' of water and the Church of Ascension; St. Stephen was also the
oil in ampoules, see Antonini Placentini Itinerarium patron of churches along several roads leading out of
11, 20, 39, 42 (Geyer 1965:135, 139, 149, 151). On the Holy City toward Bethlehem, Eleutheropolis, as
different kinds of eulogiaeeatables and objects well as Jericho and the Jordan River (Milik 1960:361,
obtained at holy places in Palestine, see Bagatti 558-59, 566-67, 572, 577, 580, Nos. 8, 26, 45, 55,
1949; Maraval 1985:237-241. 65, 71). The burial chapel of the founding fathers
6 See, for example, Cyril of Scythopolis, Vita of the monastery of St. George in Choziba was
Cyriaci 16 (Schwartz 1939:232); John Moschus, dedicated to St. Stephen (Miracula Beatae Virginis
Leimonarion 42 (PG 87, iii:2896). Moschus clearly in Choziba 5, Houze 1888:366). Bishop Marcianus

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 A Bread Stamp from Horbat Ma'on 35

9 See
of Gaza dedicated a church to St. Alliata
Stephen 1999:52,
in his No. 11 (Elis
(John the in
city, and the saint appeared prominently Baptist);
the apse 58, No. 23 (L
mosaics of St. Sergius, which were also
(Joseph); decorated
77, No. 77 (Philip); 78, No
by Marcianus (Choricius, Laudatio
79, No. Marciani 1:30;
82 (Micah); 82, No. 91 (Jon
(Egyptians);
11:21-75, Foerster and Richtsteig 1929:10,93, Nos. 125 (Victor),
33-47).
Eudocia also founded a church The label
of St. pertaining
Stephen to St. Elilarion's
in her
estate at Yavne-Yam (John of Beth Rufina,
completely Vita Petri but it probab
destroyed,
word 'saint'.
Iberi 166, Horn and Phenix 2008:241-243).

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